Youtube to ban dangerous prank videos inspired by Netflix’s Bird Box January 16, 2019 Youtube has said it will ban videos that contain dangerous or emotionally distressing "pranks", after a person crashed his car attempting to complete an online challenge inspired by Netflix's Bird Box. In an update posted to its support site, Youtube said it had updated its external guidelines "to make it clear that challenges like the [...]
Netflix shares rise as subscribers face an 18 per cent price hike January 15, 2019 Netflix has said it will be raising the prices of its streaming services for US subscribers by as much as 18 per cent, as the tech giant seeks to cover the costs of ploughing heavy investment into its original content. Prices for its most popular standard viewing plan, which allows users to stream content on [...]
South Korean broadcasters team up to create streaming service rival to Netflix January 15, 2019 South Korea’s largest broadcasters are teaming up to create a streaming service to rival Netflix as the race to create on-demand platforms shows no signs of slowing. Broadcasting firms Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) have joined with SK Telecom to set up the new venture this year. [...]
Apple analysts have let us down yet again January 8, 2019 Apple analysts, huh, what are they good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again… Yep, that’s right, I just butchered one of the most powerful lyrics of the past 50 years. Lyrics immortalised by Edwin Starr in the 1970 Vietnam protest song, but for me it kind of grabs your attention and makes the point rather [...]
Booming video games industry makes up half the UK entertainment market January 3, 2019 The video games sector now accounts for more than half the UK’s entertainment market and is bigger than video and music combined, new figures have revealed. The booming games industry is worth £3.86bn, more than double its value in 2007, and now makes up over 51 per cent of the entire UK entertainment market, according [...]
Record digital sales of The Greatest Showman boost UK home entertainment market January 3, 2019 Hit movie The Greatest Showman helped the UK home entertainment market grow by 10 per cent in 2018, new figures have revealed. The popular musical, which stars Hugh Jackman as the head of a circus troupe, was the best-selling film of the year, with more than 2.7m copies sold. A majority of the film's sales [...]
Netflix to appoint former Activision exec as new finance chief January 2, 2019 Netflix has appointed a new finance chief to its executive team, filling a four-month-long hole left by the role's former occupant David Wells. The streaming service said it has hired Spencer Neumann for the position, a veteran media executive who was most recently the chief financial officer for gaming firm Activision Blizzard. As first reported by Reuters, Neumann [...]
Netflix comes under fire for removing comedy episode critical of Saudi prince January 2, 2019 Netflix has pulled an episode of a comedy show that criticised Saudi Arabia after complaints from the country’s regime, sparking fears over freedom of expression in the kingdom. The online streaming service removed an episode of the standup show Patriot Act in which host Hasan Minhaj criticised Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal [...]
For Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google, 2018 was the year when trust in the tech giants evaporated December 20, 2018 The Faangs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google-owner Alphabet) have been the darlings of the stock market for years. These tech giants have helped to change how we shop, communicate, work – even how we watch movies. But as they have grown in size, fears have also grown, especially about what they may do with so [...]
Facebook shares down after investigation reveals true extent of data-sharing with other tech giants December 19, 2018 Facebook’s shares fell 6 per cent today after an investigation revealed the company gave big tech companies far greater access to users’ personal data than it had previously admitted. The social media giant let Microsoft’s Bing search engine see the names of virtually all users’ friends without their permission, according to reports. The New York [...]